Yalla, let’s learn a few of these words and have an Israel experience that’s mashu mashu, bli ayin hara.

For a revival language with only a small amount of words in comparison to Romance languages or English, Hebrew certainly has its fair share of street slang. Witnessing a conversation between two friends on the street feels like a game of verbal ping-pong made up of colloquial phrases and at least a few informal jabs and niceties.

For instance, you may notice that Israelis have a small-talk ritual, asking each other “How are you?” and “What’s up?” in a few different forms before delving into deeper conversation.

When learning Israeli slang, you’ve got to understand the main categories: Arabic phrases ingrained into the Israeli vernacular; words that just don’t translate into English or imply something completely different than their literal meaning; riddle-like phrases based in superstition; non-verbal utterances; the many phrases to say “awesome,” and so on.

Welcome to Israel. Now let’s learn some slang!

BORROWED FROM ARABIC

We’ll start off with the easiest, most go-to Hebrew slang terms, which aren’t actually Hebrew at all, but borrowed Arabic words that have snuck their way into mainstream Hebrew. Even a novice can, and should, make good use of these words and phrases right off the plane.

Halas! (“Enough!”)

Not to be confused with the Hebrew equivalent, die!, which comes off a bit harsher to the English-speaker’s ear (hmm, we’re not sure why).

Said when someone forgets to finish their sentence or thought, to provoke a continuation.

Bonus phrase: Nu b’emet (“Oh, c’mon!” Literally, “So, in truth”)

Stam (“Just because” and also “Just kidding”)

Hopa!

No, we’re not about to smash some plates and dance like Greek Zorbas. In Israel, hopa is called out enthusiastically for lots of different reasons from “aha!” moments to “oops, you tripped!” moments to any other moments of surprise.